Jimi Ann Scott, a fifth and sixth grade math teacher at Bobby Barrett Elementary School in Mount Ida, and Carrie Altom, an eighth grade English language arts teacher at Tuckerman High School, were recently named the 2026 Arkansas Rural Education Association’s Teachers of the Year. The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas have sponsored the Rural Teachers of the Year Awards since 2004.
Scott and Altom each received a crystal apple gift and a check for $1,000 from the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.
PHOTO: Carrie Altom
Teachers of the Year nominations are vetted by the state’s 15 educational cooperatives, which then submit a finalist for each educational cooperative district to the Arkansas Rural Education Association for consideration.
The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas comprise electric distribution cooperatives; Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (AECI), a Little Rock-based cooperative that provides services to the distribution cooperatives; and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC), a generation and transmission cooperative. The distribution cooperatives provide electricity to more than 1 million members, or customers, in Arkansas and surrounding states…